US President Joe Biden said Friday that he is looking forward to debating his Republican opponent, Donald Trump, later this year. It is his most definitive comment to date on the issue.
Trump said he was willing, although he questioned Biden's willingness.
Biden made his comment during an interview with radio host Howard Stern, who asked him if he would participate in debates against Trump.
“I will, at some point. “I don’t know when,” Biden said. “But I would be happy to debate him.”
Until now, Biden's campaign team had declined to commit to participating in the debates, a hallmark of every presidential campaign since 1976.
Biden himself had been vague, commenting in March that whether or not to debate Trump “depends on his behavior.” The two men debated twice during the 2020 general election — a campaign year significantly limited by COVID-19 restrictions — and Biden was noticeably irritated by Trump's eccentricities in that year's chaotic first debate.
“Will you shut up?” Biden said to Trump at one point in the first debate.
Trump campaign officials have long said the former president is open to debating Biden at any time, and adviser Chris LaCivita quickly responded to Biden's remarks about the debate: "All right, let's set it up!" he said. on social network X.
That same Friday, Trump reacted to Biden's new public willingness to debate by saying that "everyone knows he doesn't mean it," but suggested either next Monday night, Tuesday night or Wednesday night. night, when Trump will be campaigning in Michigan. The former president proposes that it be in the afternoon because he is attending the proceedings of his criminal trial in New York.
Trump is required to appear in court every day except Wednesdays. In a statement on his own social network, Trump also challenged Biden to debate in the Manhattan court on Friday night, since both were in New York at the same time. Biden has already returned to Washington.
However, Friday is Melania Trump's birthday, and the former president had already said earlier in the day that he would fly back to Florida to spend the day with his wife once the day in court concluded.
Leaving the New York courthouse on Friday afternoon, Trump repeated his challenge, saying: “We are ready. Tell me where. I'll do it at the White House. It would be very comfortable, really.”
Trump did not participate in any of the Republican primary debates this cycle.
The Commission on Presidential Debates has already announced the dates and locations of the three general election debates between the presidential candidates: September 16 in San Marcos, Texas; October 1 in Petersburg, Virginia; and October 9 in Salt Lake City. The only vice presidential debate is scheduled for September 25 in Easton, Pennsylvania.
